This blog consists of PhotoFeature Stories on artists of all genres, human interest stories, guest blog posts, book reviews, and book excerpts.
CHRIS RICE COOPER is a newspaper writer, feature stories writer, poet, fiction writer, photographer, and painter.
She has a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice and is close to completing her Master's in Creative Writing.
She, her husband Wayne, sons Nicholas and Caleb, cats Nation and Alaska reside in the St. Louis area.

“Moses
said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your
fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is this god’s name?” Then
what shall I tell them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you
are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.” Exodus 3.13-14

The film, “The Shack” (http://theshackbook.com)has been released. It is based on the book by the same
name written by Wm. Paul Young. There
was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth about the book in some
Christian circles.

Now
there is more of the same about the film. Pastors are telling parishioners not
to see it and admonishing staff and volunteers not to arrange movie nights for
their various small groups. Although the film had not even been released for
public viewing, the bells of all Christendom began a cacophony of clangs and
bangs. This should really come as no surprise. Do we Christians agree on much
of anything these days, except that each of us is right and the rest of us are
wrong?

This
book, and the film that follows it, is an allegory. Allegory is a story that
contains a moral or political virtue that must be revealed through the thinking
of the reader.

It
is also analogy. Analogy is an example comparing some event or situation with
another in some significant respects. It is a way to understand something that
is otherwise a challenge to understand.

The
best example of an Analogy is the understanding of God. Who or what is God? How
do we understand the Eternal, the Divine? I don’t want to get into the
philosophical exercise. Christians believe that God is One. There is one God.
We believe that God is evident as Three in One, “Father, Son, Holy Spirit”. We
call this the “Trinity”.

At
any time, we may encounter God in any of these three ways, and in those
encounters we meet all three. Are you still with me? Good, because theologians
throughout the history of the Church have wrestled with this idea and even they
don’t all agree. Entire forests have surrendered their lives for the books
written specifically about the “Trinity”.

Imagine explaining this complex concept
to children! Many have tried. Years ago, someone came up with the idea of an
apple. The apple has three parts: the skin, the meat, and the seed. All three
of these are still the apple, even though they are different, they are the
same. Except they aren’t. The skin of the apple is just that. The skin of an
apple. Bite into it and all you will experience is the skin. The seed is an
unrealized apple, yet no matter how hard you may try you can’t eat it and taste
an apple nor does it impact you as an apple does. The meat of the apple? Well,
an apple with parts missing! No matter what analogy, allegory, metaphor, or
example we use to explain “Trinity”, they all fall short eventually. “Trinity”
is a mystery of faith.

Some
theologians and Bible scholars root this mystery in Scripture, citing as
example Matthew 28.18-20, the “Great Commission”.

Others
cite Mark 16.15-16 as evidence that the Three in One concept is not Biblical at
all. Truthfully, every aspect you might want to embrace may well be supported
by proof-texting Scripture, finding verses that seem to say you are right!

Young
explores several moral dilemmas in the book, chief of them may well be why bad
things happen to God’s people. He takes us into a world that might help to
explain how we hold onto faith when the world is falling apart around us. These
are powerful issues, and Christians struggle with them each day.

Young
isn’t trying to write a theological treatise here. He is exploring creation and
our place in it. He is asking us how we might faithfully endure and comprehend
grief, guilt, loss, pain, joy, suffering. How do we make sense of the patterns
and anomalies within creation? He is
attempting to simplify a complex concept and perhaps make it more accessible to
Christians and non-Christians alike.

It
is a story. It is an engaging way to explore the issues of faith. Reading the
book presents the reader with questions and invites that reader to think about
the possibilities for answers. The best books do provoke thought and
conversation for those who read them. I suspect the film will do the same.

Does
Young present God as three separate “persons”? Yes. And, no. Young invites us
to move away from a male-focused concept of God and into a mystery the Church
is reluctant to explore. Does God have a gender? The introduction God gives to
Moses for the Israelites would seem to say “no”. God decides who or what God
is. We can have images, we can have metaphors, yet the fact remains that God is
greater than any term or concept we can produce.

In
the John gospel, Chapter 14, Jesus prays that we might all be one. He claimed
to be returning to his “Father” and that the “Father” would send the Holy
Spirit as a “replacement” for Jesus among humanity. That seems to indicate
separate yet equal expressions of God.

Although
Young presents us with God in three different ways, as a means for exploring
what and who God is in relationship with us, it is clear that God is present
and interacting with the lead character through each of those different ways.
Keep in mind that we have already suspended reality in accepting that the
character has received a letter from God and has entered a place wherein God
can be encountered without Mack needing to turn his face away as Moses was
warned to do.

This
is a story. A narrative that intends to evoke conversation and thoughtfulness.
I know that there are pastors and Christian educators who will not want to
discuss this story, and discourage their flocks from seeing the film. That is
regrettable.

It
is a perfect vehicle for a roundtable small group discussion. Allowing folks to
share what they have experienced in reading or watching, and then listening to
their stories of encountering God, is perfect food for discipleship.
Theologians and Bible scholars argue and debate doctrine and dogma. The rest of
us find ways to support folks on their faith and life journeys. Those debates
and arguments help to inform our approach but should never be the goal of our
approach. Many of us truly love the debates.

Folks
in our care just need to know that they are loved. They are loved by God and
that love is manifested through the rest of us. They want to know that their
struggles for answers are not theirs alone. They need to know that we are one
in the body of Christ and that they are free to explore and debate historic
doctrines and Church dogma. They are also free to shrug their shoulders and go
on loving God and one another.

That’s
what matters. Loving God and loving one another. The book, and no doubt the
film, focus on that love. Surely, we can agree to that, can’t we?

Karen is a retired pastor, Christian Educator, and church
musician. She has a BA in Humanities from the University of Akron, and an Mdiv
from Methodist Theological School in Ohio.

She loves her children, their spouses, her grandchildren, family
pets, and her spouse, who keeps her slightly crazy.

Karen loves to learn,
to cook, and be an encourager for others. She takes delight in helping people
reach their goals. She struggles with a need to be perfect, even while not
expecting perfection in others. She's an incurable dreamer, who sees "the
big picture" and often gets lost in the details. Her obituary will say of
her, "She had an idea."

On May 21, 2015, friends Stacy Nigliazzo and
Gabrielle Langley attended a poetry workshop at the Houston, Texas’s
coffeehouse Café Brasil where they heard from poets such as Kenan Ince, Nancy
Pearson, and Brooke Lightfoot.

When Stacy returned home later that evening she
received a phone call from a mutual friend informing her that their friend
Caroline Minjares had been murdered by her estranged boyfriend, who then
committed suicide.

Caroline Minjares

“I was shocked and
angry, and profoundly sad.I’d never
personally known anyone who’d been murdered before.”Stacy said in a Facebook interview.

Caroline and Stacy worked together at the
Neighbors Emergency Center in Houston, Texas as ER nurses.Stacy described Caroline as a dedicated professional
and loving mother to her two daughters.

“The
last time I saw her was just after a fall sunrise, a shift-change.She had a beautiful smile, even after twelve hours
overnight on the unit.

Caroline Minjares

The next day Stacy read
an article about Caroline’s murder and was shocked and petrified to find that
the article headline listed the perpetrator’s name but not Caroline’s name. The
article even went as far as to wish the perpetrator’s family and professional
community (Caroline’s perpetrator was a
firefighter) peace during this time; but no mention of Caroline or her
community of nurses.

Caroline Minjares

“And it wasn’t just one article,” Stacy
stated. “To this day, not a single headline bears her name.”

Caroline Minjares

Stacy sent an email to KHOU a Houston News
outlet condemning the news outlet for not mentioning her name: “The very least you could do is mention her
name in the heading, or even perhaps lead with Houston nurse instead of Houston
firefighter.Let’s be clear about who
the victim is, here.I seriously doubt
she slit her own throat.”

Stacy used the news reports to craft the erasure
poem “Triptych” in honor of Caroline’s memory, and sent the final draft to
Gabrielle Langley to review.The poem “Triptych”
was published in Lumen on July 6,
2015.(http://www.lumenmag.net/blog/triptych)

Melissa Hassard, poet,
partner and manager editor of Sable Books (www.sablebooks.org) read the poem and contacted Stacy with the
idea of an anthology of poetry addressing violence against women.

Melissa Hassard

“I’d
been working on this issue, from dealing with revelations in my own life about
my father, then offering writing workshops to survivors of domestic violence,
and am always looking for ways to address violence against women — to talk
about it, to bear witness, to ask why.
I read Stacy's poem online, and reached out to her immediately — and it turned
out that she and Gabrielle were already talking about this kind of project as
well, as it was so important to them,
too — and so we gathered our ideas, found a time to talk, and put this
together.” Melissa stated in an email interview.

Melissa Hassard

Melissa, Stacy, and Gabrielle sent out a
call for submissions to the anthology and received close to 1000 poems.

“We had a long reading phase, largely due to the difficult nature
of some of the poems; I was personally triggered by some of the material. But
Stacy, Gabrielle, and I would often take notes on the poems and we had several
conversations about the individual poems and we were really open to defending
or listening to one another’s thoughts on the work.”

They
narrowed down the selection of poems from 1000 to 350, still too many for the
anthology.

“We realized if we
wanted as broad a body of work as possible, we were going to have to limit our
choices to one poem per poet. Personally, I had to sit down with some of the
poems for a long time, just listening.One poem would call out for the next.It felt like a divine hand was at work more than once.”

Stacy, Gabrielle, and Melissa all decided
that this anthology Red Sky was to be more than just a book of poetry.

Melissa
explained in greater detail:“Every time you compile a book around an
issue you risk exploiting the very people that you are trying to provide voice
or haven. Red Sky is no different, and we were and are very mindful at
all times that real, flesh and blood women, including non-binary women and
trans women — women experiencing very real violence — are at the center of this
book.

Readings are difficult,
because the material is difficult, and I myself have been triggered by more
than one poem in the collection. Readings are difficult, and yet these voices
of women are powerful and moving. We’d like to continue to do them, and we’d like
to reach more women who may need to know they are not alone. This book speaks
the truth of women’s lives — and protests that too many lives have been cut off
too quickly. Finding ways to do this is what we were and are called to do.

Global Fund For Women web photo logo

We cannot thank the
family of Caroline Minjares enough for blessing this book with their love, and
we hope to continue to lift up and honor her memory.”

Caroline Minjares

Red Sky (with a compelling jacket design by Daniel Krawiec (https://www.facebook.com/dakrawiec)
consists of 100 poems by 100 different poets.
(Names, photographs and contacts of poets listed at the end of this piece).

Daniel Krawiec, far left, web logo photo.

Chera Hammons’s “How to Write About it” can be interpreted in
two ways, one of which is the victim of violence remaining a victim of silence,
trying to fit in to her environment which means a denial of her real self, what
happened to her, and a denial of truth. As a result the woman is a prisoner not
only to her abuser but also to her every day life.Because of all of this, when she looks in the
mirror she cannot recognize herself.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

But I prefer to
interpret the poem in a different way – a way that gives the abused all the
power.

Don’t make it rhyme; be quiet when you tell it.

Give it no rhythm, don’t clothe it in beauty,

just walk into the room of it without knocking.

The speaker of the poem is giving the woman sole power by not
limiting her speech by how nice her words should sound or rhyme, how expensive
her clothes are, and how expensive her makeup is.In fact, there are no limitations, the woman,
as a testimony to her own abuse, is all powerful – and does not even need to
knock in order to enter.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

You could tell it in third person Like this:

a woman stands in front of a mirror like wallpaper

(she carries bouquets of purple and yellow

that bloom in loneliness).

In the first line of the second stanza the
woman has the power to tell it in the third person.This could be interpreted in two ways – she
is the victim of abuse or she is a witness of another woman being abused, which
can be just as traumatic.Being a
witness to a violent act can leave someone paralyzed just like wallpaper on the
wall.They are frozen in fear.But even if the witness can not speak out of
fear, she can at least relay her message of truth by simply holding bouquets of
flowers, which are usually the gift the perpetrator gives his victim as a way
of manipulation.She holds onto the
flowers, which sets her apart from the wallpaper.She is no longer frozen.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

Talk about why she barely recognizes herself

in that kind of light.How it’s not just the way the light falls

on her features, her layers of skin and fat and skeleton;

not just the bruises she blossoms into,

but the way she blends into every room,

though this one is all tint and flatness.

Tell that the room has no windows.

The woman is
creating layers around her deepest self where the perpetrator cannot
reach.When she looks in the mirror she
does see the bruises but realizes that the perpetrator never touched her soul,
the real her, and because of her ability to have this protective layer around
her deepest self, she has been able to outsmart her perpetrator.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

The place the woman occupies as she looks in the mirror has no
windows, no outlet, not to keep her in prison, but to prevent the perpetrator
from hiding and from hiding her face – which is a testament to the horrors the
perpetrator has done.As a result, the
perpetrator will be made visible and will be held accountable.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper.

This third person in this room with no windows is now the one in
control – revealing in every light of who the perpetrator is, what he has done,
and forewarning others that this specific man exists and he is to be held
accountable.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

The woman is now
able to look in the mirror and see all those layers that are evident of his
abuse, which is very painful.She has to
strip those layers not in self-denial or denial of the abuse, but to reveal her
true identity – that of a complete all-powerful woman.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

You could tell it like it happened to you.

Touch it, but let it be sparse: the tile is so cold it feels
wet.

The metal edge of the medicine cabinet is bent and sharp.

The sound of the air conditioner is as empty

as a room when the music ends.

Mention that any other sound now

would be as startling as birds taking wing.

You should try to give it some mystery, too,

at least one line only those invited can enter:

say that she maps her own disaster with silence.

I find the first two
lines of the third stanza the most liberating because it gives the woman
permission to NEVER be “thankful” or even “positive” about experiencing the
violence.A victim of violence should
never say, “It made me stronger” because the woman is giving power to her
perpetrator for making her a stronger person by his act of violence against
her, which is absurd.The violence or
the perpetrator never makes the victim more positive or stronger or
better.Rather, the victim’s response to
the violence and to her perpetrator is what makes her stronger, positive, free,
and uplifted. This takes the power and ability completely away from the
perpetrator; and gives all power back to the woman.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

Now is the time for the third person and the deepest part of the
woman to meet face to face and mourn what the perpetrator has done; Do what it
takes to make herself healthy again – even if it is the tile of a hospital room
or a psychiatric ward, medication in a medicine cabinet, an empty room where
only she and music coincide.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

The last three lines of the third stanza are particularly
liberating to women of violence who do not wish to talk about their
experiences.Some women respond to acts
of violence in different ways and some women heal in different ways.It’s okay for a woman to be mysterious as
long as she is able to face the reality of what was done to her, and seeks
whatever help is necessary to live a fruitful, meaningful, and happy life.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

Or it could be interpreted in this way – the woman is now in her
own room, where windows are white and beautiful – where she has control of what
creatures fly in.At first this new
sense of freedom is frightening, because she’s been so used to living in this
third person – but now that the perpetrator and what he did to her has been
exorcised – it is now time to integrate all parts of herself and reveal them to
the world – inviting all those to enter – but only those who respect her, even
the parts of her that will forever remain a mystery.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

Or just walk around her.
She won’t even notice you’re there.

When you leave, you’ll leave her standing alone in the mirror,
as naked as when you came in.

She’ll never be able to deny what happened to her– but she has to leave that part of her life
behind looking at the mirror always reaffirming that she is not imagining
things, that it wasn’t just a misunderstanding, or that she didn’t wear too short
of a skirt, or that she egged her hubby on which led him to hit her.No, she will always be there naked – a
testament to his guilt.But the full and
complete woman, person she is, has to look at her looking in the mirror and go
on with her life.

You have seen it so many times you know what will happen.

You can say why it happens.
This time, you could save her life if you like.

copyright by christal ann rice cooper

There are others who have unfortunately been victims of what she
has been a victim of.It is time to join
with these others, develop nurturing relationships, and it is in these relationships
that healing will be granted upon the woman.